Cortez Mayor Karen Sheek signed a proclamation Tuesday declaring the city would recognize April as Child Abuse Awareness Month.
The proclamation came after members of the Four Corners Child Advocacy Center board gave a presentation on child abuse in Cortez and announced several events they have planned for the next month to spread awareness of the problem. Police Chief Roy Lane, among other public figures, took the opportunity to voice his support for the Advocacy Center’s work. The presentation was one of three the council heard during their regular meeting.
The Advocacy Center is a Cortez-based organization that provides a child-friendly place to interview possible victims of abuse and their family members, as well as counseling and education programs.
“I want this community to protect every child that lives here at all costs,” Debbie Lovett, a retired teacher on the Advocacy Center’s board, said. “They don’t always have a voice. We have to be their voice.”
Sheek read aloud a proclamation saying that “child abuse and neglect is a community problem,” and asking all Cortez citizens and law enforcement agencies to work together to prevent it.
Nine of the 13 Advocacy Center board members attended the meeting. One of them, Matt Keefauver, handed out blue pinwheels, which are used to symbolize childhood, to the city council. Starting April 3, members of the Advocacy Center plan to place pinwheels and blue ribbons around their building and along Main Street in Cortez. They also have a “Business After Hours” networking event scheduled for April 13 and will be giving presentations in local schools throughout the month. Elementary school students will be asked to decorate their own pinwheels, which will be placed around the Advocacy Center on April 21.
Lane said the Advocacy Center has made it “twice as easy” for his department to prosecute child abuse cases as it was before they started.
“This is probably one of the most important organizations in our community,” he said.
Sheek also signed a proclamation declaring the city will recognize Arbor Day on April 27. The final presentation the council heard was by Matthew Vanloo, a student at Southwest Open School, who asked them to support organizations that seek to combat climate change, such as the advocacy group Protect Our Winters.